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Want Malcolm Gladwell's best-seller Outliers and want it now? If you think is your best bet to get the paperback edition at a low price and quickly, think again.

Over the past few months, Amazon has been fighting a quiet battle with Hachette, Gladwell's publisher and one of the largest in the world. The publisher's (read: supplier's) contract is rumored to be up for negotiation and Amazon is reportedly making it harder for readers to acquire the company's titles -- and more expensive.

If you want Outliers from Amazon, you may have to wait two-to-three weeks for it and you'll pay $15.29 as of today. If you want the same title from BarnesandNoble.com, for instance, it will ship within 24 hours and cost you $12.74. Outliers is one of many Hachette titles facing this issue on Amazon. Hachette has said that it is up-to-date in terms of supplying all of its retailers and contends that Amazon is deliberately keeping a low stock to pressure the publisher in its contract negotiations. Amazon has not returned request for comment on the issue.

Amazon removed virtually all the discounts from Hachette titles starting on Feb 7, 2014. Books in pre-orders or VERY recently released books, still have discounts, but all the other books (both print and ebook) are being sold at full price.

This is in addition to delaying shipments, according to Sullivan:

For my own books, I noticed the “usually ships in 2 – 3 weeks” starting around early March. At first I thought it was some glitch with just my books, then looking at other titles from the imprint I saw that it went much deeper than that.

The discounting is where ebook sales might be affected. Hachette relinquished its No. 1 spot on the Digital Book World Ebook Best-Seller list this week. Shipments of ebooks aren't being delayed, of course, but it could be that the ebooks aren't being discounted as heavily as they would be if there wasn't a conflict between Amazon and Hachette. Two of the three ebooks on the list this week from Hachette are selling for $12.74, well above the average price for a best-selling ebook this week ($6.88) and the highest priced books on the list right now.

Hachette published a hard cover title (Robert Ludlum/James Garrison) called The Janson Option on 3/18/2014. It was immediately available as a hard cover in stores, on the B/N site, and as an ebook ($ 14.99)

Amazon only listed it as a hard cover, NO Kindle version except for a free excerpt 5-chapter offer.

I found this a bit odd and queried Amazon. They told me it was Hachette’s fault, and I should write to them. So I did. They got back to me with this message on 4/29:

Thanks, Doug Customer Service Hachette Book Group USA ======================= It is available at this url, also for $ 14.99

Here’s where it gets strange. When you search Amazon and get to the book’s landing page, there is no kindle version available.

http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Ludlums-Janson-Option-Paul/dp/0446564486

So – while it might be a mistake – I don’t think so. Something is afoot…

Why is Amazon doing these things? While the company won't comment, it's probably about its deal with Hachette. Amazon likely wants Hachette to pay more for "co-op" (that is, marketing dollars publishers spend with retailers to ensure certain in-store or, in Amazon's case, on-website marketing). Amazon probably also wants the right to discount Hachette's books as it pleases whereas Hachette may not want to give Amazon that ability. Amazon can absorb losses on book sales to gain market share and burnish its brand image, making up the dollars through its other businesses; bookstores and other ebook retailers can't do the same, since virtually all they sell is books. Hachette may be moving to protect its other retailers.

Really, though, it's about profit margin. Amazon wants a bigger piece of its suppliers' profit margins to purportedly pass on to its customers in the form of lower prices. This is the company line and by all accounts Amazon makes good on this promise whenever it can. (I've heard rumblings from publishers that as a way to combat this they are considering upping the royalties they pay authors for ebooks. The typical accepted royalty at a big publisher is 25% for ebooks. I've heard talk of 50% becoming the new norm.)

To those who follow the book publishing industry or just Amazon in general, this conflict should come as no surprise. Amazon has made similar plays in its relationships with other suppliers. In 2010, for instance, Amazon removed "buy buttons" from Macmillan books when the publisher wanted to change the pricing scheme it used with Amazon. After a tense weekend standoff, Amazon eventually resumed selling Macmillan titles and the publisher reportedly got its way. And according to reporter Brad Stone's book on the company The Everything Store, Amazon views its publisher suppliers as sickly gazelles and itself as a cheetah, taking them down.